


The Flower Shop

by ShowMeAHero



Series: Swing Life Away [3]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Babies, Children, Deaf Character, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Mentions of all the Avengers, as well as kate and nick, babbu is the point, but you know what i mean, in which stevebucky have the babies eek, lil babies oh my god, well they themselves don't have the babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 20:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1870917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah becomes a big sister, Steve is fulfilled, and Bucky has a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flower Shop

**Author's Note:**

> Title (which probably makes no sense, but I think does after I explain it) comes from "The Gambler" by fun., so, hear me out.
> 
> "All the kids have bloomed from babies into flowers in our eyes."  
> "We've got fifty good years left to spend out in the garden."  
> "I swear when I grow up I won't just buy you a rose; I will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely."
> 
> There's a lot of garden and flower imagery, and it's very happy and paints a picture of a happy, colorful family. I thought it was nice. Look at Steve's little garden he's grown.
> 
> Also, I've been told it's impossible for me not to use this song when I get really excited about something, so here it is, breaking through. [I highly recommend listening to it here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT-5NY83OYI)

“Now, Sarah, remember, you’ve got to be _very_ quiet,” Sam reminded her, holding tightly to the little girl’s right hand as he walked her down the hall. Natasha had the five-year-old’s left hand, and Clint and Bruce walked behind them, Clint with his hands shoved in his sweatshirt pockets, Bruce looking tense and vaguely uncomfortable. Tony was out of the country at the moment, and had texted Steve his apologies; Thor was off-planet, and sent his regrets via a shocking hologram-like message to Bucky that morning. Kate was on a mission, and Nick was still wary of public locations.

Sarah nodded her brunette head, bangs falling into her eyes as she walked. Natasha leaned down and brushed them out of her face for her.

“Are they sleeping?” Sarah asked, and Sam shrugged.

“Could be, I have no idea,” Sam answered. They finally reached the closed door that bore the number the nurse had given them - 341 - and Clint sighed audibly with relief. The last time they were here, they were here for the baby boy who was supposed to be Sarah's little brother. The woman Steve and Bucky were adopting him from had decided to keep him, and, when Clint and Natasha had reached the hospital, Steve was sitting outside the hospital room, his head in his hands, while Bucky sat on the floor opposite him, leaning against the wall, his palm covering his face. It was the harshest silence Clint had ever experienced. Nobody was outside the room this time, luckily, it seemed.

Steve and Bucky, knowing how awful the system could be, turned down Sharon’s offer, and Natasha’s half-hearted offer, to carry a child for them, and chose, instead, to adopt, every time. Sarah they adopted at the age of eight weeks, after she was left in a church in Queens. This new baby, of an unknown gender - Bucky did not want to know, and Steve is a terrible liar, so he chose not to know, either - is from the same route they went with the boy. They found a mother who was going to give up her baby once it was born, and she chose to give the baby to them. After what happened last time, they had to be sure, and, this time, it seemed as though the woman was absolutely positive. Clint was glad. He was not absolutely sure they could take that again.

The mother - Leslie Dhawan - was a delightful woman. She was nineteen and made a mistake at college, and knew that her life could not include children for another ten or fifteen years, at least, and she could not, in good conscience, keep the child. Steve had promised her she could be involved in the child’s life if she wanted, and she seemed relatively okay with that. Clint was a little wary of her, but she seemed committed to actually _giving_ them the child, which was all he needed.

Sam stopped outside the door, crouched down, and hefted Sarah up onto his hip. She wrapped her arms around his neck and waited for Natasha to knock and open the door before she leaned around to look inside. She saw Steve first, standing next to the bed where Leslie was looking up at him tiredly, and whispered, loudly, “ _Daddy!_ ”

Steve grinned, and Sam put Sarah down, letting her run over to him. He lowered himself down enough that she could see the baby he was holding extremely carefully.

“What’s her name?” Sarah asked softly.

“This is Margaret Rebecca,” Steve answered, motioning for her to pull the blanket back, and Sarah did, peering into the newborn’s face curiously.

“And this,” Bucky said, moving from beside the wall to crouch down next to Sarah, “is Winifred Brooklyn.”

Sarah stared hard at Margaret, then at Winifred, then looked up at Steve and Bucky’s faces. “There’s two of them. There’s _two_ of them?”

“Oh, my goodness,” Sam exclaimed, his hand flying over his mouth. Clint whistled.

“Congrats,” Clint said. Sam dropped a hand onto Leslie’s shoulder.

“Good on you,” Sam complimented, and Leslie yawned. Bruce, leaning against the wall right beside the door, smiled at Steve when he looked up.

“They’re both beautiful,” Bruce commented, and Steve smiled back.

“You need an additional one of everything,” Natasha interjected, remarkably calm. Bucky rolled his eyes.

“Thanks for the fun fact, Natalia,” Bucky replied dryly. “We had no idea before you bestowed your _infinite wisdom_ upon us-”

“Alright, calm down,” Steve interrupted, straightening up. Sarah stretched up on her toes, struggling to still see her little sister, and Clint lifted her up, holding her on his hip so she could more easily see the infants. “We’ve been awake for a while now.”

“Exactly,” Leslie exclaimed. “I am going to _sleep_ now that you have other people here.”

“You’ve earned it,” Steve assured her, grinning. “Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me every three seconds and let me sleep,” Leslie ordered with a play-scowl, pulling her hospital blanket up further and shutting her eyes.

“So. Margaret and Winifred, huh?” Sam asked, and Steve nodded.

“We’ll call ‘em Winnie and Maggie,” Bucky explained to them, straightening up. “Make it easier. But the names mean something, you know. We wanted ones that meant something.”

“Winifred was Bucky’s ma,” Steve informed them. “Rebecca was his sister. And Margaret’s for Peggy, and Brooklyn is damn near the only thing we could agree on on such short notice. But, I mean, Brooklyn was our home. _Is_ our home.” Steve blew out a harsh breath. “I don’t know, guys. I’m just-”

“Yeah,” Natasha interrupted. “We can tell.”

“So, Sarah,” Bucky said, passing Winnie off to a surprised-looking Bruce and taking Sarah from Clint. “What do you think?”

“I like them,” Sarah insisted without preamble. Bucky kissed her temple and smoothed her dark hair back from her face. She reached out and laid one of her cream-white hands lightly against Maggie’s bronze-tan cheek, then ran her fingers through her dark hair. “She’s pretty.”

“They’re identical,” Steve informed her. “They’ll look just alike.”

“But I won’t look like them,” Sarah said. “Like Uncle Thor and _his_ brother. Or like you and Uncle Sam.”

“Uncle Sam and I aren’t brothers,” Steve explained, ignoring both Sam and Clint’s laughter, “But, you’re right, you won’t look like them.” Steve adjusted his grip on Maggie, and Sarah carefully held on to the newborn’s small fingers. “But you’re their older sister, and they’re ours the same way you’re ours. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Sarah answered obediently, rolling her eyes. Steve glanced up at Bucky.

“She picked that up from you,” Steve shot, and Bucky grinned.

“Excellent,” Bucky replied, and Steve could hardly help but smile back at him before he yawned. He took a seat in one of the two chairs in the room, and Sarah immediately squirmed out of Bucky’s grip, falling to the floor and scrambling onto Steve’s lap. Steve readjusted his position, holding Maggie out of the way until Sarah was settled and he could hold her normally.

“Are they gonna have hearing aids like me?” Sarah asked, trying to look into Maggie’s ear.

“We don’t know yet,” Bucky answered as Bruce gave Winnie back to him. Bucky took her back carefully, his metal hand clad in a leather glove and cradling her head. Winnie had fallen asleep, but Maggie was still awake, likely from all the moving around. She stared at Sarah with dark eyes, following her whenever she moved.

“That’s alright,” Sarah replied, moving slowly, trying to keep Maggie’s focus on her. Clint cleared his throat.

“So, how’d you not know about this one?” Clint asked, jerking a thumb in Winnie’s direction. Bucky raised an eyebrow at Steve, who just shook his head.

“Leslie’s a sweetheart, but she’s not the brightest,” Steve told him. “She was confused when they told her initially, and didn’t really understand what they meant. She just assumed it was one baby.”

“We never see her medical anything, that’s all her private stuff,” Bucky added. “The ultrasound pictures we got, it’s not like they were labeled, and neither of us are doctors. They assumed we knew. And we let her do whatever with her mom and stuff, that’s what she wanted to do, and we only came in at the end here, we weren’t around for the beginning, just the last, what, month and a half or so?”

“A pretty serious misunderstanding,” Steve summarized, “but a misunderstanding nonetheless.”

“Are you okay with it?” Natasha asked, standing beside Bucky and observing Winnie while she slept.

“We kind of have to be,” Steve laughed. He looked down at Sarah, monitoring her while she absently stroked the back of Maggie’s hand with one small fingertip. “Besides, I think it’s a good surprise. We have the means to care for two, and we did want more than two children eventually.”

“Three girls is fun,” Clint commented. “I’m sure Kate’s going to be thrilled when she finds out there’s three instead of two for her to train.”

“Where is Auntie Kate?” Sarah asked, keeping her eyes trained on Maggie.

“ _Mission: Impossible_ ,” Clint answered conspiratorially, and Sarah giggled.

“You’re very lucky,” Bruce added from beside the door. He was no longer standing beside the wall, having been coaxed forward into the room several steps by Natasha. “You’ll do great with them, I know you will.”

“Thanks, Bruce,” Bucky said, giving him a real smile, albeit a quick one, before turning his attention back down to Winnie. “I don’t know, it’s all just- This whole thing is just nuts to me. I mean- I wasn’t even _me_ , for a _long_ time. And now, what, I have a family?” Bucky shook his head. “Makes no sense to me. Whole thing’s wacky like nothin’ I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re babbling, you’re tired,” Steve reminded him. His head dropped backwards to rest on the top of the chair. “I’m beat, too. It’s been a long couple days.”

“Daddy, do you think they’ll like space, too?” Sarah asked, looking suspiciously at Maggie, who just stared back, blinking every now and then. The newborn yawned, her small mouth moving into an o shape, and Sarah squinted at her.

“I don’t know, baby,” Steve answered honestly. “We’ll find out more the older they get.”

“Papa, what do _you_ think?” Sarah inquired, glancing up at her father’s face. Bucky shrugged, carefully.

“You used to love turtles, and now you love space,” Bucky told her. “Remember? So, we don’t know. They might like it, then change their minds. We just don’t know yet.”

“Science hasn’t gotten that far yet, kiddo,” Clint said, and Sarah seemed to accept their combined answers, dropping her head onto Steve’s shoulder and playing absently with Maggie’s tiny fingers.

“We’ll leave you alone for a little while, but we’ll be right out in the hall,” Sam announced finally, ushering Natasha, Clint, and Bruce out the door into the hallway. He threw off a quick, joking salute to them before shutting the door behind him. Bucky used his foot to drag the other chair over until it was across from Steve’s chair, and he fell down into it, careful not to jostle and wake Winnie as he moved, making the whole process slow and, apparently, comical, as Sarah laughed through it. Leslie slept on, blissfully unaware of her surroundings and totally dead to the world.

“Excited to be a big sister?” Steve asked Sarah while Bucky got settled in his chair. Sarah nodded eagerly.

“I can teach them about space and fighting and stuff,” Sarah chimed, beaming, and Steve kissed the top of her head.

“You sure can,” Steve assured her, resting his cheek at the crown of her head. She got distracted by the twins, again, and Steve made eye contact with Bucky. Steve smiled at him in what he hoped was a reassuring way, and Bucky smiled right back, the corners of his eyes crinkling in that way Steve loved.

The thing was, he still remembered their old lives fairly vividly. He remembered sitting in his armchair - an old, ratty thing that he adored, because it was the first piece of furniture he and Bucky had gotten for _their_ place. He remembered sitting there, across from Bucky, who would sprawl across the sofa and toss pennies at Steve, making him catch them until Steve started whipping them back. Steve would curl up - he was better at that before the serum - and tuck whatever he was using as a drawing pad against his thighs, and he would draw Bucky there. He remembered Bucky smiling like that as he picked Steve up like he weighed nothing while Steve was trying to make them dinner on their burnt-out little stove. He remembered a similar light appearing in Bucky’s eyes when they babysit the kids in the apartment next to theirs.

Steve still remembered their old lives like they happened just yesterday. He remembered clearly what it was like to weigh ninety pounds soaking wet, to be barely five feet tall, and to have no muscle tone, no matter how much he worked. He remembered struggling to breathe on a _good_ day, never mind in the winters when he caught sick. He remembered standing up for anything and everything, no matter what; breaking rules, trying to kick ass. He remembered Bucky at his side the entire time. Bucky, who never cared how big he was, or how sick he was, or what his name was.

He remembered what it was like to see the people in Brooklyn who stood up for loving people like he loved Bucky, and he remembered seeing them go down for it, and he remembered the fear he felt. He remembered the want he felt, in the night, when Bucky had fallen asleep and Steve was tucked up next to him, wide awake. He remembered not letting himself want _this_ , because _this_ was something he would _never_ get. He remembered well, and he would bet anything Bucky remembered some pretty similar things. He still was the same person he used to be on the inside; but some things have changed, some things have changed _him_. He was a lot different now, but he still was Steve. Inside, he was still Steve. He just looks a little different than he feels.

Bucky was still smiling when Steve came back to himself, but he was looking down at Sarah now, listening to whatever she was saying and laughing when she finished before answering her. Steve shut his eyes, just for a moment, to gather himself before he continued. When he reopened his eyes, Bucky was looking at him, and he winked, and, suddenly, Steve was ninety pounds again, his pants higher than he has _ever_ worn them in this new century, his hair parted, his heart beating erratically in a way the serum has long since fixed, and he felt complete.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).
> 
>  **EDIT:** Yes, this used to be part of the series [The Smithsonian](http://archiveofourown.org/series/94757). This (and the other pieces with their children) were so tonally different that I decided to separate them and put them in their own series. Ta-da! Enjoy.


End file.
